Probably, the respect and influence Varadaraj Mudaliar had among the public inspired people like Dawood Ibrahim and others to take to such businesses.
The days he spent fighting Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray who tried to run the Tamils out of Mumbai are golden days in history. Some other prominent names during his period were Karim Lala, etc. He came to be known as one of the godfathers of modern gangsterdom.
#Nayagan movie movie#
Inspired by the true life story of Mumbai's Tamil don, Varadaraja Mudaliar, the movie 'Nayakan' portrays it so vividly and realistically of how the real-time character known popularly as 'Varadha Bhai' fled Tuticorin(Tamil Nadu) to seek his future in Mumbai. The story is that of a Mafia don, who is a kind of Robin hood for his own people, takes justice into his hands and kills the baddies has been tried, and re-tried later so many times but this is the best movie and the most successful one. When he slowly losses his dear ones and it all finally ends with his death at an old age, with a moral message that one who lives by the sword(gun), dies by it. From here starts the rise and the subsequent fall of the Don that was. But the slum dwellers stand up for Kamal and refuse to divulge any details about the murder. Kamal goes about and commits the first of the deeds which would culminate in him becoming "Velu Nayakar". It is here that the famous "Naa Adicchaa Nee Sethuduve" dialogue is spoken by Kamal. Kamal and Janakaraj soon settle into Vaapa’s business. Naturally Kamal is beaten up in jail and thrown back into the slum. Kamal stands amidst the ruins and swears at Kelkar. After the titles the movie starts off when Inspector Kelkar launches a cleanup of the slum area pavements. Here he meets Janakaraj, whose father smuggles goods for a local don ( Vijayan). Kamal (then a lad of around 10 or so) kills the inspector at his father's funeral and escapes to Bombay on a train. The film starts off with Kamal's father (a union leader, played by Kittu) shot dead by the police in Tuticorin.
The movie is loosely based on Coppola's "The Godfather" and the life of Varadaraja Mudaliar, a don of the Bombay underworld. It fetched Kamal Haasan the 2nd of his National Best Actor Awards as well as a Filmfare award.
The film is about a Tamil youngster who grows up amidst the slums of Dharavi in Bombay to become a gang leader of sorts. Nayagan is one such movie Directed by Mani Ratnam which created waves in the film industry. Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan teamed up with a long list of superb actors, if happen to come together, no points to guess that the movie is bound to be a super hit. The director is currently working on his Magnus opus of a film Ponniyan Selvan which has an ensemble cast of actors like, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Chiyaan Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aditi Rao Hydari and so many more.A truly magical experience. The director has been always a maker of a cult classic and has influenced many to become filmmakers, Gautham Menon, N Linguswamy are to name a few of those who he inspired in becoming a filmmaker. The director even was the one to spot the talent of A R Rahman and introduce him to the world of cinema as a composer through his movie Roja.
The director has introduced many supreme talents to the country, the director introduced actors like Aravind Swami and R Madhavan through his films. The last release of the director was in 2018 titled Chekka Chevantha vaanam. Ratnam has won six National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, and numerous awards at various film festivals across the world. Some of Mani Ratnam must-see films include Mouna Ragam, Geethanjali, Thalapathi, Anjali, Iruvar, Dil Se, Roja, Bombay, Kannathil Muthamittal, Guru and O Kadhal Kanmani to name a few.